'So happy with our offset deal'

Thirtysomethings Sam and Jason King and their cat Trinity move tomorrow from a two-bedroom flat in Clapham, south London, to a three-bedroom house in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey. To help fund the purchase of their new property, the couple picked a fixed-rate offset mortgage from First Direct.

The Kings, who are both accountants, wanted a deal that would allow them to make regular overpayments on their mortgage without penalty and offset their savings and current account balances against the outstanding loan.

Sam says: 'We used a fixed-rate offset deal with First Direct for our flat and we are happy with that, so we decided to do the same with our new loan. We see the tax benefit of offsetting our savings against the mortgage balance.'

Jason, who is self-employed, has been a customer of First Direct for many years, preferring it to branch-based banks because he can organise his banking easily outside working hours and speak to a human being at any time of day or night.

While Sam still banks with LloydsTSB, Jason's current account and the couple's joint savings are with First Direct. Both the current account balance and their savings are used to offset the mortgage, effectively resulting in no tax to pay on their savings. Sam says: 'We are making overpayments and want to pay off the mortgage early. There is no set date but the earlier it's paid off, the better.'